Brendan: We made them take notice of us

As Liverpool brought 2013-14 to a close with a commanding win in Dublin, Brendan Rodgers reflected on a campaign that restored the Reds' reputation among the Barclays Premier League elite.

The Aviva Stadium in Ireland's capital was the setting for his side's final display of the season on Wednesday night - and although the stakes were not so high, the travellers were typically fine-tuned and incisive, strolling to a 4-0 victory.

Goals from Iago Aspas, the returning Fabio Borini, Martin Kelly and Academy striker Jack Dunn completed the rout over Shamrock Rovers as more than 40,000 passionate Kopites filled the ground for a friendly clash.

It was a fitting end to a campaign which has seen Liverpool transformed beyond all recognition - from a side that finished seventh to one that stood a chance of lifting the Premier League on the season's last day.

Rodgers believes such a turnaround - and moreover the manner in which his side maintained their title challenge - means teams across Europe will sit up and take notice of Liverpool once again.

"The disappointment didn't last too long," he told reporters after the Shamrock victory. "I'd said to the players on the Sunday before the game that, whatever, we would celebrate the incredible journey that we have been on this season.

"Our actual focus was on this game [against Shamrock] because we needed to focus on here. We had a job to do and we had a duty to our supporters to perform well and work hard. The reflection comes now that this is finished. But my overriding feeling is one of pride.

"The restoration when I came in two years ago was to get Liverpool back to become one of the leading clubs in Europe and over the last two years, the identity of the team and the style of football has made the British league and the European leagues sit up and take notice.

"This season we've had some incredible performances and we have recovered the soul of the club again for the supporters. They feel pride and enthusiasm in the club and they have a spring in their step because we are heading back in the direction of where Liverpool Football Club should be, and that's the best."

Rodgers' side pieced together one of the most enthralling runs of recent times when they embarked on an 11-game string of successive victories at the tail end of the campaign.

What began with an emphatic 5-1 victory over Arsenal in front of a stunned Anfield crowd in February gathered enough momentum and spirit to propel Liverpool on and on until they reached the league's summit.

But when defeat to Chelsea was followed by a 3-3 draw away to Crystal Palace, Manchester City were able to sweep past the Reds and consolidate first place on the final day of the campaign.

Rodgers insists that the positives outweigh the negatives when analysing his side's end-of-season form - and he believes the experience of falling short will stand his young team in good stead for future campaigns.

"The psychological impact is only a positive one," he explained. "We will enter into next season with the belief that we can win the title.

"In our last 14 games, we won 12 and claimed 37 points out of 42 - that's a remarkable statistic for a very young team. The last game was a difficult game because the feeling you have in that situation is that Manchester City would win their game.

"We've gone remarkably close this year. We now expect next year and will have the belief to go one better. It won't be any harder because it's a tremendously difficult league and all the teams will strengthen, but so will we and we'll get better."

Paez , Dunn , Peterson impress me a lot . The most outstanding player from the group of youngsters was Ibe . I can see he's another Sterling in the making . Just needs to work on his decision making and his passing .